AlphaControls provides you with a vast collection of components for creating unique-looking skinned applications. This handy tool set doesn't rely on any graphical elements of your operating system, so you can make your application's interface look good in any Windows version. From colors to effects, you can tweak any aspect of your interface, to make it your own.

Installing AlphaControls is not as straightforward as you might expect, since it's not an actual stand-alone application. The components come in a ZIP archive, which includes instructions on how to install them in different environments. AlphaControls can be used on various Delphi and C++ Builder versions and it supports both 32 and 64-bit architectures.

Although you have to unpack the files yourself and go through a number of steps to install them, a demo interface is available, so you can see how your applications can look and how you can customize them. It consists of tabs, sliders, drop-downs and many other types of controls.

Most of the controls don't do anything. They are there so you can see how they feel and how they would look with different settings. Besides navigating, clicking buttons and performing other simple actions, you can also choose different skins for the interface, scale it, apply effects to buttons and change their shape and more.

AlphaControls provides full support for third party controls, which you have to declare using the skin manager. As a result, all the available classes, types, routines and constants can be used with a wide range of components, like Windows system dialogs, Devexpress grids and many others.

AlphaControls gives you the possibility of creating unique-looking applications and tailor them to your own preferences.

Pros: You can find everything you need to create unique skins for your applications. AlphaControls is compatible with various Delphi and C++ Builder versions.

Cons: Installing AlphaControls is not a straightforward procedure for inexperienced users.